Porn For Women To Feminist Porn To…: The Evolution Of Porn Labels

Is Porn For Women The Same As Feminist Porn?

20 years ago, porn for women was a relatively new idea. Most porn made around the millennium (and before that) was aimed at a straight, white, male audience and reflected that perspective. Candida Royalle’s Femme films showed that porn for women could work commercially and when the internet came along, the opportunity to make and sell porn to women became huge. In the first ten years of the century, porn for women became a big deal.

But what exactly is “porn for women”?

A popular perception sees it as softcore, romance-style, plot-driven porn. This is not necessarily the case. Those who have made porn for women over the last two decades have offered a huge variety of porn from gonzo to amateur to high-end, big budget films depicting everything from straight sex to rough sex to BDSM. The main factor has been a determination to cater specifically to a female audience and to depict female fantasies and a female perspective.

Porn for women was – and is – important because it is about creating a space for women in a hugely male-dominated area of entertainment. It’s a handy way of finding porn that is different, that doesn’t give priority to male sexual experience, that offers a female gaze, that actually speaks to women as an audience.

But the questions come up: Which women – queer? straight? transwomen? Is there any single female perspective or experience that can define porn for women? And doesn’t having a separate category imply that women are only supposed to like one type of porn (especially if you assume women only want softcore romance)? “Porn for women” and “female friendly porn” is a pretty nebulous concept that is hard to define and kinda difficult to use as a genre, even if it is a handy label for those drowning in a sea of mediocre mainstream men’s porn.

Feminist Porn As The Successor Of Porn For Women

Feminist porn as a label and genre grew out of the movement to create porn for women. It seeks to be more inclusive about who is watching, who is being depicted and who is making it. As more queer and trans people began making porn, the label was much better suited to what was and is being produced.

While feminism has traditionally been interested in improving the lives of women, the increasing focus on intersectional feminism seeks to be even more inclusive, acknowledging the differing experiences of people of colour, disabled people, genderqueer and trans people and others. Feminist porn broadens the available perspectives and has tried to infuse porn with these feminist sensibilities: embracing diversity, consent and fairness.

Like “porn for women”, the phrase “feminist porn” is difficult to pin down with definitions – see What Is Feminist Porn? It is less about the content of the film and perhaps more about who is making it and how they are making it – see Ethical Porn.

And now, there are a number of people who no longer wish to use the term.

A Backlash Against Feminist Porn?

In 2015, genderqueer porn star Jiz Lee told Vice: “While ‘feminist porn’ is a powerful phrase, to simplify it as a genre or proclaim that only a select few produce it, does the industry a disservice in implying that all other porn is inherently misogynist, and I don’t believe that at all.”

Since Jiz’s statement, there’s been a move away by some in the industry from the term “feminist porn” because they see it as too restrictive, too exclusive and somewhat elitist. There’s also concern that it has been used merely as a marketing term made without reference to ethical production practices.

After accusations were made against The Feminist Porn Awards in 2015 regarding their the transparency of their selection process, the event went into hiatus for a year before re-emerging in 2017 as the Toronto International Porn Festival. The awards were instrumental in getting the idea of “feminist porn” into the spotlight and yet eventually they felt that it was more constructive to stop using the term.

Labels and Categories

The push against feminist porn as a label is part of a growing disquiet among new pornographers about labels and categories in general. Porn has a long tradition of giving nicknames and labels to different types of content (e.g Big Beautiful Women, MILF) because these help consumers to find their specific tastes and fetishes. Feminist porn has led the charge against the use of some of these labels because they are harmful or derogatory e.g interracial or “shemale”. Discussing these types of categories draws attention to issues like racism in porn, or the way that a straight while male POV is considered to be the “default”.

At the same time, “feminist porn” itself has become something of a label or category, even though it is difficult to define and very broad in scope. Like “porn for women” before it, the term makes some people uncomfortable. While they acknowledge that labels can be helpful in allowing minorities a way to market and delineate themselves, it can also be restrictive and encourage stereotyping.

Two porn creators, TrenchcoatX and Four Chambers, have gone out of their way to remove traditional categories and tags from their sites. TrenchcoatX have opted to let surfers make a list of what turns them on and off, offering up videos they may like according to that. Four Chambers dumped labels altogether. Vex Ashley told Vice: “With Four Chambers, we wanted to create a space outside of descriptions where the viewer doesn’t clearly know before clicking play what they’re going to see, meaning they don’t get a chance to instantly dismiss [it] because it’s shows a particular body or idea or sexuality that they don’t think they enjoy.”

Ms. Naughty, a former librarian, says categories and labels can still be useful, provided they are inclusive. “There is so much porn on the internet, the viewer needs something to help them sort it. Categories may not be perfect but they can still be incredibly useful, especially if you are looking for an obscure or marginalized type of porn.

About FeministPorn.Org

So given the above discussion, where does this site fit in? We know that the phrase “feminist porn” isn’t perfect but it’s still something people use to find a different and more inclusive kind of porn, not just the pirated stuff that’s on Pornhub. This site exists to be a portal for people to find what suits them; it’s a jumping off point for those who have heard of feminist porn and want to know more and it’s a directory of hugely differing perspectives, all of which can be considered feminist.

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